US And India Defense Coperation

 

Few days before what seems to be the final selection between Rafale and Eurofighter for MMRCA, Washington is trying a last minute maneuver to derail the Indian choice, reiterating its offering of the Joint Strike Fighter to New Delhi. This proposal has been on the table for years, but India hasn’t seem to be interested – in 2007, when it first surfaced, it was too far, today, too expensive. India has already made its choice, which seems solid, developing its own

India Closed Bids Of Dassault, EADS

 

The Indian defense ministry unsealed bids by the final two competitors in the $10 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition, but a final decision is up to two months away.

The bids will be evaluated for lowest life-cycle cost.

"The lowest bidder will be announced after six to eight

Indonesia will purchase 24 used F-16s and nine C-295s

 

The Indonesian air force is to receive 24 former US Air National Guard Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters and nine Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI)/Airbus Military C-295 medium transports.

The plans were announced by defence minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro in a story posted by Indonesia's official news agency Antara.

The 24 Block 25 F-16s will be upgraded to the

Scrutiny of GE-AVIC avionics joint venture

 

A US Congressman is continuing to pressure the Obama Administration for a formal security review of a nearly year-old joint venture agreement between General Electric and China's AVIC.

In a 17 October letter sent to Defense secretary Leon Panetta, Representative Randy Forbes called for a national security review of the new commercial avionics business by the Defense

Eurofighter delivers Typhoon to the Spanish Air Force

 

The 300th Eurofighter Typhoon produced by the four partner companies of the European consortium, was delivered today by Cassidian to the Spanish Air Force, Ejercito del Aire. This milestone makes the Eurofighter Typhoon the only new generation multi-role aircraft to reach the impressive figure of 300 examples in service.

The Eurofighter Typhoons – developed and manufactured by Cassidian

Eurojet EJ200

 

Eurojet has offered Seoul its EJ200 turbofan engine to power the Republic of Korea Air Force's (RoKAF's) proposed fifth-generation fighter aircraft, known as KFX.

The offer was submitted to South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) earlier this year in response to a request for information (RfI).

Paul Herrmann, business

Vertical Landing of F-35B at Sea

 

In an audacious display of confidence, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program office demonstrated short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) tests of the F-35B Lightning II to reporters onboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp on Oct. 18. 

Flown by Marine Lt. Col. Fred Shenk, F-35B test aircraft BF-04 flew a series of short take-offs and vertical landings onboard the 40,000-ton warship

Pakistani Mirage-V Jet Crashes; Pilot Killed

 

A French-built Pakistani fighter jet crashed during a training flight on Oct. 19, killing the pilot, the air force said.

The Mirage-V aircraft on a "routine operational training mission crashed due to technical malfunction" near the town of Uthal in sparsely populated southwestern Balochistan province, it said in a statement.

China increasing its military

 

How far is China’s military reach? The answer depends on what it wants to do. A Chinese warship deployed to the Mediterranean this year, so, by that yardstick, global reach is at hand. But the isolated ship only supported civilian evacuations from Libya, and had no real military potential.

Pull focus back to 300 km (200 mi.) from China’s coast and it is a different story: More than 1,000 short-range ballistic missiles are ready to clear the way for around 2,000

Raytheon Will Integrate STM on Light-Attack Aircraft

 

Raytheon is seeking to integrate its Small Tactical Munition onto a wide variety of light-attack aircraft. STM is a new 12-pound, 22-inch-long, precision-guided, gravity-dropped weapon.

Although initially designed for employment from unmanned aircraft systems, STM's small size makes it uniquely applicable to manned systems as well.

Light-Attack Aircraft Proposal by US Lawmaker

 

U.S. lawmakers continue to reject the Pentagon's attempts to deploy light-attack aircraft to Afghanistan as part of a combat experiment.

The House Appropriations and Armed Services committees and Senate Armed Services Committee rejected a $17 million U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) request for the Combat Dragon II program, according to a Pentagon reprogramming document.

RAF Tornados clock up 7,000 flying hours over Libya

 

That's the equivalent of approximately two years' worth of training sorties back in the UK.
Operating from Gioia del Colle air base in southern Italy, the tempo of operations has been relentless, and IX (Bomber) Squadron has been at the forefront of the mission.
The Tornado Squadron was one of the first fast jet squadrons to deploy to the area. Officer Commanding IX (Bomber) Squadron, Wing Commander Andy Turk,

China is beginning to retire its J-8 jet fighters

 

Without any publicity at all, China is beginning to retire its J-8 jet fighters. Up until recently, China was upgrading and trying to export the J-8. There were no takers. Everyone seemed to know that the J-8 was a turkey.

Dumping the J-8 was hard to do, because the Chinese have long believed that

F-35B Performs First Takeoff From Amphib

 

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft performed the first short takeoff from an amphibious assault ship early Oct. 4. 

Piloted by Marine Lt. Col. Fred Shenk, BF-2 lifted from the deck of the USS Wasp at 8:45 a.m., Joint Strike Fighter Program Office officials confirmed.

Related Topics

The F-35B will conduct 67 takeoffs and landings at sea

Taiwan Will Upgrade IDFs, Buy 50 Trainers

 

Taiwan said Sept. 28 that it plans to upgrade a fleet of 56 home-grown fighters and buy more than 50 trainers as part of a major air force modernization package.

The move comes as the U.S. and China are embroiled in a row over a decision by Washington to upgrade the island's U.S.-made F-16 A/B fighters in a separate,

SEA TRIAL OF F-35B WILL START NEXT WEEK

 

The U.S. Marine Corps F-35B short-take off vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will begin sea trials next week, the service's top aviation officer said.

"They start on 3rd October, and should last only two weeks," said Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the Marine's deputy commandant for aviation. "But we have the USS Wasp for six weeks in case there are some anomalies."

Rafale F3 and AREOS Reco NG

As a veritable “omnirole” fighter, the Rafale has already replaced several types of warplanes in the French air force and navy. This trend is set to continue in the coming years with the retirement of France’s last Mirage F-1 fighters, the carrier-borne modernized Super Etendard and the oldest members of the Mirage 2000 fleet. The Rafale F3 will therefore take over the reconnaissance role, for which it deploys a dedicated system, the AREOS Reco NG pod

Taiwan Official Suggests F-35 As Future Alternative

In response to news the U.S. has decided to decline Taiwan's request for new F-16C/D fighter aircraft, Andrew Yang, Taiwan's deputy minister of defense for policy, said the air force would consider the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in future discussions with the U.S.

Taiwan has requested 66 F-16C/D fighter aircraft and a mid-life upgrade (MLU) package for 146 older F-16A/B fighters. However, due to pressure from China, the U.S. had declined

Raytheon Will Integrate Griffin on AT-6 Light Attack Aircraft

 

Raytheon is seeking to integrate the combat-proven Griffin missile onto the Hawker AT-6 light attack aircraft.
Griffin weighs 44 pounds with its launch tube, is 43 inches long and is an air- and ground-launched, precision-guided missile designed for rapid integration onto rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft and ground-launch applications.

X-51 Scramjet Test Exceeded Thrust Expectation

The second X-51 supersonic combustion scramjet test vehicle actually produced more thrust than expected before the test flight ended in failure, a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) official told a U.S. House Aerospace Luncheon on Sept. 15.

Scramjets would enable flight at hypersonic speed of more than Mach 5. 

"The neat thing that happened on the second flight is that … we made too much thrust, we made too much power," said X-51 program director Charles Brink.